Evanthia's Gift

The Gift Saga, Book 1

By: Effie Kammenou

Narrated by: Emily Lawrence

Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

In the year 1956, Anastacia Fotopoulos finds herself pregnant and betrayed, fleeing from a bad marriage. With the love and support of her dear friends Stavros and Soula Papadakis, Ana is able to face the challenges of single motherhood. Left with emotional wounds, she resists her growing affection for Alexandros Giannakos, an old acquaintance. But his persistence and unconditional love for Ana and her child is eventually rewarded and his love is returned. In a misguided, but well-intentioned effort to protect the ones they love, both Ana and Alex keep secrets - ones that could threaten the delicate balance of their family.

The story continues in the 1970's as Dean and Demi Papadakis, and Sophia Giannakos attempt to negotiate between two cultures. Now Greek-American teenagers, Sophia and Dean, who have shared a special connection since childhood, become lovers. Sophia is shattered when Dean rebels against the pressure his father places on him to uphold his Greek heritage and hides his feelings for her. When he pulls away from his family, culture and ultimately his love for her, Sophia is left with no choice but to find a life different from the one she'd hoped for.

Evanthia's Gift is a multigenerational love story spanning 50 years and crossing two continents, chronicling the lives that unify two families.

©2015 Effie Kammenou (P)2017 Effie Kammenou

Inspiring story of true love and fate

I absolutely loved learning about all these characters. I loved how the author incorporated the use of Greeks recipe and traditions in this book.
This is a story of true love destined to be together from childhood. The trials and tribulations of your first love in childhood to your forever love in adulthood is expressed all through this book.
The narrator did an amazing job! I felt her joy, her pain, her sorrow, and her love for the characters.

So worth it!

Any additional comments?

I was hooked on this book from the very beginning. The narrator instantly brought the story to life. Which was very easy to do considering how well crafted this book was. The characters are vivid enough to picture each of them in my mind. Whether the reader has Greek heritage or not, everyone will be able to relate to the family drama. However, the author did a nice job of sharing about the Greek culture without sounding like a travel brochure or a lecture. At times, I found myself talking to the characters in my head even when I wasn’t listening to the book. In looking at the book, I think the different character voices made it a little easier to understand the multiple POVs. I really didn’t want this one to end.

The narration felt perfect for this story. The narrator did a good job a varying the voices enough to keep everyone separate.

Good read

This was a good read. Evanthia goes through a lot in her life. I liked this book because it tells much about Greek culture and how some cultures still wanted the children to marry within that culture. They sometimes were unhappy when they did not. Dino loved her with all his heart but both were to young and immature to realize the love they had. There familly pushed them from a young age to marry. Children do not always do what we want them to. This story tells about both of their paths in life. Woth the credit.

This book
was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Sweet!

Evanthia's Gift was such a wonderfully sweet love story! I Effie told this multigenerational love story in such a beautiful way. I was touched and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Emily did a fantastic job with the narration. She truly brought the characters to life in an amazing way. Great job!

🎧AudiobookObsession🎧

LOVED IT!

I absolutely loved it! This book caught my attention from the very beginning and held it throughout the entire book. The narration was superb and gave the story that extra flair! The author did an excellent job with the character builds and plot. This was my first book by this author but definitely not my last! I look forward to reading the next book in this series! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Didn't like the second generation as much

I got hooked on this story very early! I enjoyed Anastacia and Alex’s story. They were two very interesting characters who have lived through a terrible time of WWII in Greece. They are telling the younger generation their struggles and their heartbreaks. It got me very emotionally invested. Their love was very beautiful and I was happy to hear about how they overcame such trials.

Then it moved onto Sophia, their daughter, and her love interest Dean. Sophia is just blah. She is whiny and totally dependent on Dean, who is a jerk waffle and doesn’t deserve her. I hated their relationship, I wanted to punch something every time Sophia cried over Dean and every time she accepted him back…..I don’t understand how it went from such a beautiful and touching story to something just angsty and annoying. This is my opinion, you may perhaps enjoy angsty books and girls who super pine after dudes that are not good enough for them. For that reason I give the story a 3.5/5.

The narration was beautiful! Lawrence has an amazing accent for the first generation characters and I am in love with it!!! I think she had a great tone and pacing throughout the story. Even if I was extremely mad at certain parts, I cannot fault her voice as it was steady and clear, and had great emotion throughout. Her audio I give 4.5/5 stars!

Great Book

loved this book so much i got book #2. the details of places like Santorini Island.

Two bodies with one soul

Evanthia’s gift is more than a multigenerational love story. It’s a heart-warming and unforgettable journey that you take in the late fifties with two charming families. Since the beginning, the story captures your attention with plot twists, gripping romances and the incredible bond among its characters.

The storytelling goes from one family to another for almost a half-century in NYC and some parts of Greece. The author beautifully manages how the events occur with all the elements from Greek and American culture. This is an incredible introduction to the broad Greek culture; it gives us traditions, cuisine, celebrations, and a little bit of faith -in the Orthodox Church-.

Every chapter captured my attention in an unbelievable way. I need to know more and more about its characters and their lives. Evanthia’s gift is all I could ask for a family/romance/friendship novel. Love, death, loss, companionship, friendship, and faith of that kind is what I would like to live one day.

One of the most important things addressed was the fact that all the female characters are strong, independent, and empowered woman, who faced adversity with confidence and courage. A huge message to young women.
Now that I read it and listened to the audiobook, I highly recommend it to all kind of audience out there. Even though you are not a lover of romance, this one will bewitch you.

As once I thought: This could be real, these families could have existed at some point…
Well done, Dear Effie.

Loved it ♥️

Evanthia’s Gift is a wonderful story spanning 3 generations and following two families. It tells of the hardships of love, family, following your dreams and trying to stay true to their Greek culture. It’s a story about finding yourself, whether it through true love or a rebellious teenager. It’s a long listen, but a good one. It definitely kept my interest and it was interesting to learn about the Greek culture. There are some really good recipes at the beginning of several chapters. Emily Lawrence did a fabulous job with the narration! Especially with all the different characters and the accents!

#audiobookobession 🎧

Not related to Mamma Mia! :)

I had a good start to this beautifuly narrated greek saga!

Anastacia and Alex’s story was very enjoyable. Interesting characters who survived the WWII time in Greece.

Anyone would relate to the family drama, translating to the next generation, their struggles and heartbreaks.
Second generation of the family was getting on my nerves, so I didn't like it as much... but such is life.

When it moved to Sophia, their daughter, and her love, annoying dependence of Dean, who doesn’t deserve her. What a jerk... the book felt like two separated stories.

However, amazing accent for the first generation of characters, the narrator did a good job with the variety of voices from the multiple pov's.

A long book, but nice and enjoyable!